Luckily, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, signed into law in February by President Barack Obama, came with strict reporting requirements. States are required to keep detailed information about how the money is being awarded and spent, and must make this information readily available to the public.
“Every taxpayer dollar spent on our economic recovery must be subject to unprecedented levels of transparency and accountability,” says the federal Web site Recovery.gov, created to explain the stimulus program and track spending.
About the Federal Stimulus Package
The $787 billion in federal stimulus money is intended to create jobs and quickly boost the economy by fast-tracking infrastructure and other community projects. However, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, as it’s officially called, has also been met with criticism.
Supporters have said the expenditure is necessary to bring the country out of its severe recession and prevent a full-blown depression. Critics have argued against adding such a large burden to the national debt, and have questioned whether the plan will kick-start the economy enough to justify the price tag.
Stimulus money can be spent in a variety of ways – in the form of tax cuts or benefits, contracts to businesses, and grants to nonprofits or other public agencies. The money is funneled through the federal government to individual states and then to specific agencies, businesses or projects. Thus far, much of spending in many states has gone to road and infrastructure projects.
Using the Federal Web Site to Track Stimulus Spending
The Recovery.gov Web site is one way to browse state-by-state expenditures. The site has several interactive map features that break down federal stimulus spending thus far. This is the simplest way for those who are interested in gathering general information about spending in a variety of states because the information is all in one place.
The green map on the top left of the page has two main functions. Scrolling over each state with the mouse provides a precursory look at dollars spent per state, including the total amount of funds projected to reach the state and the amount allocated thus far. Clicking on each state provides a more detailed description of how funds have been spent, including which state agencies have received them.
Further information about stimulus spending is available on the federal Web sites FedBizOpps.gov and USASpending.gov.
Using State Web Sites to Track Stimulus Spending
Every state is required to keep its own stimulus-tracking Web site, but they differ from one state to the next. Some are more detailed or complete than others. The federal Web site has links to each of the state recovery sites through one of the map features. Simply click on the state to be redirected to the site.
Although each state site is set up differently, most include information such as how much money the state has received thus far and to which state agencies it has been directed. Many also go as far as to name of the companies that won each project bid, although it’s important to keep in mind that many projects have yet to go to bid.
If the state stimulus Web site does not provide a complete description of a particular project, try checking the Web site of the state agency that awarded the contract. State agencies like the transportation and education departments get the information first, so they may post it on their own sites before reporting to the state.
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